4 min readGuwahatiMar 10, 2026 05:22 PM IST
First published on: Mar 10, 2026 at 05:22 PM IST
More than a fortnight after his death, Zomi MLA Vungzagin Valte’s body remains at a morgue in Manipur’s Churachandpur, with a committee saying that before a funeral, they want an “offer” from the state government on both an investigation into the 2023 attack on Valte that left him seriously wounded and their “political demands”.
In a bid to resolve the impasse, Deputy Chief Minister Losii Dikho, a Naga, travelled to Churachandpur on March 2 to meet Valte’s family, the Zomi Coordination Committee formed over the issue, and the Churachandpur-based Zomi Council representing eight tribes under the Zomi umbrella.
However, a Zomi Council member said, the matter is far from resolved. “The main point communicated to the Deputy CM was that we expect someone to take accountability for Valte’s death, and some proceedings to show for it because he was not just a citizen but a sitting MLA, and that too of the ruling BJP. It is likely to be quite some time before the stakeholders are ready to move ahead with the final rites.”
Valte passed away February 21 in a Gurugram hospital, after battling for nearly three years the injuries sustained by him in a mob attack in Manipur capital Imphal on May 4, 2023, during the early hours of the start of the Meitei-Kuki-Zo conflict.
To avoid the Meitei areas of Manipur, Valte’s body was brought home to Churachandpur via a long road route from Mizoram. It has since been kept at the morgue in Churachandpur Medical College.
The matter of his pending burial was raised on Monday in the Manipur Assembly, when the House convened for its first proper Session since the new government was sworn in.
BJP MLA L M Khaute, who attended the proceedings virtually (six of the nine Kuki-Zo MLAs did the same), said: “I wish to apprise this august House that his (Volte’s) body is still lying awaiting a befitting burial… I appeal to this august House to take necessary steps to resolve the issues and deliver justice as early as possible.”
In his address, the first by a Kuki-Zo MLA in the Manipur Assembly since the start of the conflict in 2023, Khaute also appreciated Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh’s gesture of visiting Valte in hospital and of deputing senior leaders to meet the family and community leaders and hear their grievances.
On Monday, the BJP mandal unit from Valte’s constituency Thanlon also held a sit-in protest at Churachandpur Medical College seeking “justice” for the deceased MLA.
Zomi Coordinating Committee convenor T Kaizadou said they were waiting for their demands to be heard. “When the Governor visited MLA Volte’s family last month, his son presented some of the demands. When the Deputy CM came, we told him that for the satisfaction and confidence of the people, we want some offer from the government on these issues… Once we get an offer, we can discuss further.”
Valte’s son Joseph earlier told The Indian Express that the family wanted the CBI or NIA to take up the investigation into the attack on him. A senior official said the family had also backed the long-standing demand of the Zomi Council for a separate district, comprising southern Churachandpur.
The Zomi Council has also submitted a memorandum to the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding the investigation as well as seeking a “time-bound engagement by the Government of India” over the larger demand by Zo groups for a separate administrative structure.
On the status of the probe, a senior official said an SIT was conducting it, under the supervision of officers across states and the Manipur Police, and monitored by the Supreme Court.